Aslan Profiled

In 19-82 an up and coming musician by the name of Christy Dignam, teamed up with another few lads from the areas of Ballymun and Finglas, north of Dublin City Ireland, and put together the foundations of the now brilliant group Aslan. The group from Dublin have certainly made a big impact when it comes to preforming, and giving out decent albums. The group consist of a 5 piece, (Christy Dignam is the lead singer) (Joe Jewell plays the lead guitar) (Rodney O’Brien, plays bass)(Billy McGuinness plays the keyboard, harmonica and the guitar) and (Alan Downey who plays the drums along with the percussion.

Aslan, have so far released six studio albums.These include two best of albums titled, ” Here Comes Lucy Moonhead, released July (19-98 ) & Un-cased, the Platinum collection released in May off ( 2009 )

Early History

At the end of 19-86, “Aslan were awarded the Stag/ Hot Press, award for the most promising up and coming new group. They also got signed to EMI record label. Aslan had a lot going for them, as they cemented their foundations. In 19-88 they released their 1st studio album, titled ” Feel No Shame ” It went in to the Irish Album charts, it went to number 1, and a few months later the album went gold.

In 19/88 they released their first album ( Feel No Shame )this was followed in 19-94, by ( Goodbye Charlie Moonhead,) Then in 19-97, they released (Here come’s Lucy Jones,) then in 2001 they released (Waiting for This Madness To enjoy,) then in 2007 they released ( For some strange reason, ) and their 7th studio album came in 2012, title ( Noodle Books and Frenchies.) They also released a DVD & and Album, Titled ” Made In Dublin, their first ever live album and a DVD. Some of the songs and footage for ” Made In Dublin, was recorded in Vicar street, a popular Venue here in Dublin 8.

In their run up to their success they in the spring of 19-86 released a demo titled, ( This Is It ) It made it mark, and it became a very popular song on a Irish radio station called RTE 2FM. Staying in the same year while they where gigging in the in the (UK ) the melody maker described them as gold should they get signed. While in the UK a lady called Janice Long who worked for the BBC Radio 1, invited Aslan in to do a live show, this move paid off, as then Janice played and repeated the session, giving Aslan a proper induction in to the English market. Janice played this session 3 times.

In 19-88, Aslan went their separate ways due to a option of their 2nd album. Christy went off and with the help of another guitarist, Conor Goff, they set up “Dignim & Goff. The remainder of the group also made changes to the group, they brought in a singer by the name of, Eamon Doyle. They also set up a new group called “The Precious Stones.

It wasn’t till a few years later that they admitted that their changes didn’t work. It was like taking U2, apart and trying to front U2, without Bono.

5 years later in 19-93, Aslan formed again with all original members for what was supposed to be a one off gig for a charitable cause, at a venue in Finglas, Dublin, some of the members home turf. They reunited shortly after that gig and also changed their record label from EMI to BMG. Their 1st released single after they re-formed, “Crazy World ” went in to the Irish charts, it peaked at number 4 in the top ten. Crazy World is probably one of Aslan’s most famous song, it certainly let people know out there that they where back for good. Their follow up single ( Where’s The Sun ) peaked at number 3 in the Irish single charts.

In the later part of 19-94 Aslan, were quite busy as they where touring Ireland, and where laying down their foundations of their new Album, ” Goodbye Charlie Moonhead. When it was released in it went to the top spot number (1) in the Irish album charts soon after it went gold.

But one year later in 19-95 their record label, BMG dropped Aslan. In April of 19-96, Aslan began working on their forth coming album, ” Here Comes Lucy Jones” and that’s despite having no record label to work with. The album was released regardless the following year in 19-97, and it went in to the Irish albums charts and peaked in at number 14. In that same year Aslan were nominated for seven categories for the Hot Press readers poll. The following year 19-98, Aslan released their first best of album titled ” Shame about Lucy Moonhead, under EMI record label, It went to number one in the Irish album chart’s. Shortly after its release it went double platinum.

In March of 19-99, Aslan played 5 concerts at the Vicar street venue in which the foundation of their DVD & Album, titled ” Made In Dublin were laid. Both the DVD and album where released and both reached number one in the Irish DVD and album charts.The album sales went platinum within 3 weeks of release, and it stayed in the in the top 10 for a staggering 10 weeks. In late 19-99 Aslan sold out to what was Ireland biggest venue at the time, the Point Depot, now the 3 Arena. The venue could hold 9,000 seats, Aslan shared the stage that night with another Irish group called, Picture House.

In 2001 Aslan recorded a single called ” She’s So Beautiful” with the help of another Irish singer song writer, Sinead O’Connor who did the backing vocalists. It was released it went into the Irish chart singles and peaked at number 9. Also in the same year Aslan’s released their album Titled ” Waiting for This madness To End ” It entered the the Irish album charts then went straight up to number one before it finally went platinum. In December of the same year the band did another show at the 3 Arena.

Using new ways and new types of music Aslan released their long awaited album “For Some Strange reason in 2007, which was again released in the Irish album charts, however because of their new techniques, this album did not do extremely well in the charts the first since (19-97 ) two singles taken of that album and where released before the album was ( was Here Comes The Sun & Jealous little things ) Irish musician singer & song writer, Damian Dempsey, made an appearance on the track of the album titled “Bullets & Diamonds.

In 2008, Aslan picked up an award at the Meteor music awards for the best Irish band. Not to long after this a original member of Aslan, Tony McGuinness announced he was talking a year out and heading over to Australia with his family, he was replaced by Rodney O’Brien.

On the 7th November the same year Aslan preformed on a balcony over looking Dame street in Dublin singing ” Always ” for a music viral show titled ” Balcony TV. The following year 2009, Aslan released “Un-Case’d, the collection their 2nd compilation album, it went in to the Irish album Charts and made it to number two.

In 2011, the group went back over to Australia having been there previously, and played huge venue. In 2012, Aslan released another album titled “Nudies and Frenchies and it went straight in to the top 10, then to the number 1 spot.

Aslan are still going today in the last few years Christy has been ill with cancer…

We have two videos up by Aslan preforming firstly Crazy World & their 2nd one is the original version of This Is It.